Most people within the United States of America and other similar industrialized nations sleep with one or more pillows upon a supportive but generally soft and hopefully comfortable mattress. While the fabrication of pillows varies substantially, many provide a closed cloth fabric envelope within which a soft and sometimes resilient material such as foam material is confined. Still other types of pillows utilize material such as feathers or shredded resilient foam to provide the desired sleeping comfort. Still other pillows comprise a solid generally rectangular unitary block of resilient foam material utilizing plastic or rubber foam.
While the preferred sleeping position varies substantially, a great majority people tend to sleep on one side or the other rather than face down or face up. Typically, sleepers prefer to lie on one side or the other with one or more pillows positioned beneath the head and neck. The sleeper usually rests their head and side face upon the pillow surface. The general overall objective among sleepers in this sleeping posture is to compensate for the difference in elevation from the bed surface between the sleepers shoulder and neck. Simply stated, the centered positioned of a person's neck raises the person's neck and head away from the bed surface when the person is lying upon their side. One or more pillows are positioned beneath the neck and head to fill the difference of elevation between the neck and head and shoulder. Thus, the pillow is intended to support the weight of the user's head and neck and provide a general alignment between the user's neck and the user's spine.
During the sleep cycle, people naturally move and change positions from time to time even while remaining asleep. This movement is to some extent a natural process and is probably intended to minimize the overall stress upon muscles and joints which would otherwise occur if the sleeper remained in a single fixed position all night. While the movement and change of positions is a natural part of the sleep cycle, there are unfortunate consequences which arise. When using conventional pillows, the user is likely to move upon the pillows and thus change the elevation of the user's head and thereby the alignment of neck and spine. In addition, the use of more than one pillow provides an undesired change in neck and spine alignment as the pillows tend to slide upon each other thereby changing neck and spine alignment. Thus, the use of one or more conventional pillows often leads to sleeping in an awkward position in which neck and spine alignment is less than desirable.
In addition to the potential misalignment of neck and spine resulting from the use of conventional pillows for persons tending to sleep on their sides, the interaction between the skin of the sleepers face and the surface of the pillow or pillows imposes a further problem upon the sleeper. It has been shown that sleeping upon a pillow in a side rest position places the skin of the sleepers face against the pillows surface in a manner which tends to stress, stretch and often wrinkle the sleeper's skin. The undesired wrinkling of skin on the side of the user's face, particularly in the skin portion proximate to the eye has been shown to increase and accelerate the establishment of permanent skin wrinkling, particularly around the eye. The familiar aging effect produced by wrinkles upon the face and eye region is a well-known effect as a person ages. Unfortunately, the skin wrinkling resulting from sleeping upon the typical pillow or pillows used today has been found to accelerate and exacerbate this condition. Within modern society, excessive eye wrinkling is seen as advanced age. Thus, skin wrinkling about the face and eye gives the person an appearance of advanced age. For the most part, this is undesirable and in some instance unacceptable.
Thus, for most people careful attention to body and head positioning prior to going to sleep is not effective due to the natural movement and motion mentioned above. Persons may pay attention to the position selected for sleeping as they wait to fall asleep. However, during the sleep cycle, substantial movement can result in skin wrinkling and loss of neck and spine alignment. One of the most important phases of the sleep cycle during a typical night sleep is referred to as REM (rapid eye movement). Studies directed toward the sleep cycle have determined that the phase of sleep during which the sleeping persons eyes are found to move rapidly to and fro is believed to be the most important and restorative phase of a night sleep. Characteristically, it has been found that individuals do not move significantly during the majority of REM sleep. Ironically, while the REM sleep and its lack of movement maximize the benefits of the sleep cycle, the lack of movement may also exacerbate the skin wrinkling and maintenance of a poorly designed neck and spine for a long period of time. As a result, the user may awake with some neck stiffness and muscle soreness and a skin wrinkling effect.
In response to the problems and limitations characteristic of conventional pillows, practitioners in the art have endeavored to provide pillows which enhance neck and spine alignment and which reduce skin wrinkling effects. Unfortunately, while such attempts are well intentioned, they have thus is far proven to be ineffective. Sleepers utilizing such devices continue to move and disturb the desired position. Practitioners have employed pillows of various contours which have been found ineffective and often exacerbate the problem due to the effect of the various contours upon the user's head and neck and facial skin as the user moves during the night. Thus, despite substantial efforts by practitioners in the art, their continues to exist an unresolved need for a more effective, efficient, low-cost and comfortable sleep aid which maintains neck and spine alignment and which avoids undue wrinkling or stressing of the sleepers skin.